


Gentle Waters

by scrawly_times



Series: Fins [1]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Adaro!Bilbo, Alternate Universe, ori is super excited yall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2019-03-04 21:48:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13373715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scrawly_times/pseuds/scrawly_times
Summary: The hobbits of the Shire are cursed to drown in any water they touch. Unfortunately they have quite a lot of waterways running through their lands. In contrast, they've got some help counteracting that curse.Bilbo just wanted to visit a friend, now he's been dragged all over Middle Earth in a rather defenseless hobbit form with a bunch of dwarves unaware what he truly is.Fantastic.





	Gentle Waters

**Author's Note:**

> I am totally going to skip through basically the entirety of The Hobbit because running everything through again is More Than Old by now, but just bear with me :P

While the dwarves had been miserable throughout their journey for one primary reason, Bilbo had been miserable for another.

He missed his fins.

Bilbo missed his horn, his webbing, his claws, his fangs, his _tail._ He’d always thought the hobbit form he could get out of the water and walk around in was rather quaint and fun to run around with. Oh, and that! Running. _Running_ used to be something he _enjoyed._

Bilbo would never leave the water a day in his life again if it meant he never had to run for his life again.

He was lucky the natural stealthiness of a hobbit extended even to one only borrowing the form. Otherwise he’d have spent all his time in Mirkwood hiding under the water of the lower canals, never even finding the dwarves. It was also his kind’s natural ability to slide through water smoothly and quickly that helped him sneak around above water as well as he did.

Fortunately, it was also his ability to _find_ water that led him to find the river, and thus hide and make his plan from there.

The barrels, admittedly, were not his best idea. But frankly he was panicking and he sort of _forgot_ that not everyone was comfortable being constantly soaked and bobbing around in water constantly. It only hit him that this may not be the best idea when the dwarves were already in barrels and splashing into the water. It also occurred to him that the barrels were perhaps not the most _buoyant_ of vessels either.

With that sudden fright of a realization, Bilbo dove into the water and ignored his clothes ripping and tearing around him. Hobbits could not swim. It was his kind’s responsibility to watch hobbit waterways and keep the little land-dwellers safe when they ventured out into streams and rivers. Now, he could extend that job to the dwarves.

Bilbo took a moment to settle back into his form, fins flicking and twitching reflexively to keep him somewhat upright in the current. He then flexed every single limb and fin he had before flipping his tail to push himself towards the nearest barrel.

He latched onto the wooden panels with a relieved tremble. Claws on his fingers and toes dug deep into the wood and he tried to stop himself from shaking. He wasn’t meant to swim in open waters. Rivers banks and floors and rocky bottoms, that was where he belonged. He was going to be _exhausted_ by the time this was done with.

Bilbo had already examined the barrels for whichever ones seemed to be the most watertight, but now he examined them closer for leaks and holes. It was fairly easy to cling to their undersides with his claws and feel for rushing water. Clinging to the _top_ of a floating barrel would be hard, but staying underneath it was rather easy.

Whenever Bilbo found any particularly large leaks he let go of the barrel, drifting down to the bottom of the river to pull up small bits and pieces of river weeds. He didn’t recognize most of them but they worked to stuff into the cracks. Pushing up off the bottom was easier than trying to swim under his own strength too.

Then just as he thought they were scot free, damn _orcs_ showed up. Thorin, damn him, popped the lid of his barrel almost immediately when he heard the war cries, despite the fact that Bilbo was almost certain they were after the _elves_ and hadn’t even scented dwarrow past the smells in the barrels to begin with. What did he know about smells though?

Bilbo gave it up for lost when the other dwarves followed their king’s rallying cry, cracking open their barrels as well. He instead immediately began to try and keep the barrels from tipping over and sending a dwarf spilling into the water. Barrels were not aquadynamic! How in the heavens did they think they weren’t about fall right out Bilbo had no clue! At least hobbits were sensible and did their best to not destabilize whatever makeshift craft they were floating on!

So while dwarves, elves, and orcs fought, Bilbo flickered about underwater pushing off barrels and grabbing them before they could tip, trying to keep them steady without letting anyone drift behind. Between the fast rapids and plenty of rocks to bounce off of, it might have even been _fun_ if it weren’t for the fact that Bilbo was very _not used to_ swimming in rapids and had thoroughly bashed his fins all over.

And then the way was blocked and nobody was moving anymore and one barrel was empty and Bilbo nearly _screamed_ in frustration.

Instead, he scrambled up on the rocks up to where one of the dwarves - Kili, of _course_ Kili - was reaching for a large wooden lever. Oh! Well. That was handy. Bilbo was just about to lever _himself_ back into the water when Kili fell clutching the lever.

_Bugger._

Bilbo wasted no time in scuttling out of the water as fast as he could on these legs, webbed toes scraping painfully on the rock. His tail drooped and flailed painfully behind him but he struggled over to Kili, grabbing the dwarrow’s arm He didn’t want to _know_ what kind of arrow it was and snapped the shaft of the arrow off.

Kili was bursting into a barrage of Khuzdul, struggling against Bilbo’s hold.

“Hold still, damn you, dwarrow!” Bilbo’s voice was perhaps a little more… burble-y, but Kili still could recognize him.

“Master _Baggins?!_ ” Kili sputtered, eyes widening. If this wasn’t the _exact wrong time_ for this conversation Bilbo may have laughed at the way Kili looked like he’d been smacked by a fish. Since they _were_ rushed for time, Bilbo croaked unhappily, ear fins flattening to his head.

“Yes it’s _me,_ now hold still!”

He ripped what remained of one of his sleeves off, wrapping it around Kili’s leg in perhaps the worst slapdash dressing there could be. Kili wasted no time and pushed himself up to the lever. Bilbo pushed him up a bit to get extra leverage and then helped him pull the lever back down.

It was a rush then, elves and orcs still bustling around them.

“You have a lot of explaining to do!” Kili said, breathless from pain and leaning on Bilbo’s shoulder while they struggled to limp to the edge of the rocks.

“And I’ll be happy to if we get out of this alive!”

Bilbo struggled to walk almost as much as Kili. Kili had an arrowhead in his knee, yes, but Bilbo’s feet were literally _not made_ to walk on land. Kili was in pain and Bilbo couldn’t even stand upright. They made quite an odd pair wobbling towards the river. It only took a few seconds to make it but it felt like minutes.

And then, of course, the orcs realized what it was that was assisting the dwarrows.

Black Speech rang out and Bilbo’s fins flicked sharply. He spun around clumsily and shoved Kili into the water just as an orc tackled him over the edge.

That was its first and only mistake.

Bilbo was not the best swimmer of his kind. He could not swim in free water easily and he would never be the best at really any particular type of swimming. In fact, his best quality in the water was just his ability to _sit still_ and feel the currents through the sensitive skin of his scalp and fins.

But orcs were not aquatic creatures, and Bilbo was the only one here who could breathe underwater.

They both managed to get quite a good few scratches and bites in, seeing as Bilbo had slimy skin like a catfish rather than scales, but the sliminess was to his benefit. The orc couldn’t get a proper grip on him so Bilbo could lash out with his own claws and fangs. They wrestled against each other, the orc’s larger size quickly losing its advantage as it had no control over its path underwater. They both ended up bashing into the rocks on the bottom as the current and their thrashing flung them around.

The orc only had claws and fangs to fight with, but Bilbo had a rather large and useful natural weapon.

With a quick headbutt, the spiraling horn on his forehead stabbed right through the orc’s neck and up into its chin. Bilbo actually had to struggle and wrestle around with the twitching body to pull his head _away_ from the awkward angle and free his horn. Then, worried about Kili, he grabbed onto the riverbottom and kept the current from carrying him away so he could catch his bearings.

His gills flexed painfully, a small scratch and bruises on one side being rather more painful than they should be, and he shuddered at the ‘taste’ of the… _contaminants_ in the water. Large eyes peered around but the whitewater was difficult to see through. He pushed off the rock he’d been holding and let the current carry him, slowly grabbing onto other rocks and pulling himself towards shallower water.

Over a small waterfall he pulled himself up to the surface to see that the barrels had predictably been washed further while he’d been distracted with the orc. Kili clung painfully to the side of Fili’s barrel.

Bilbo tossed himself over the waterfall, landing easily and slipping back underneath the water. He was thankful for the slowly calming water as he slid through the current.

He caught up with the dwarves easily, peering up from underneath Kili.

“What was that?! There was a splash!”

“Think it was Bilbo.” Kili said, sounding both amused and disbelieving.

“Baggins?” Thorin’s voice. Bilbo loved how easily sound carried underwater. “Master Baggins! When was the last time anyone saw the hobbit?!”

The Company began twisting around frantically in their barrels, Dwalin nearly capsizing. Ori at least seemed to have the sense to just clutch at the barrel and not move. Poor lad looked terrified though.

“He was- there was an orc!” Kili stiffened up and only Fili’s tight hold on his arms kept him from falling off the barrel. “An orc, he shoved me into the water-” Kili began looking around as well.

The dwarves began to question Kili on what had happened, several of them looking quite mutinous. Bilbo would guess that Bofur was quite ready and willing to climb out of the barrel and hike back upshore to go rescue him. It brought a very nice warmth to his chest that helped stave off the cold water.

But of course Kili mentioned the _slimy and having fins_ thing. The other dwarves looked at him like he’d hit his head rather hard. Oin even began trying to float his barrel closer to get a better look at the lad’s head.

Bilbo figured he may as well save Kili the embarrassment and disbelief. He truly hadn’t expected to last this long without the dwarves finding out anyways.

“No, no, he was right about, um…” Bilbo barely managed to get any words out, head peeking above the water, before dwarves jumped and flailed around in a panic.

He ended up having to back away from the barrels by several yards, unwilling to get his fins bruised anymore than they already were. Now that the adrenaline was fading he was quickly feeling every bump, scratch, bite, and bent fin. Several dwarves capsized but they were in shallow enough water Bilbo felt it wasn’t necessary to help them to shore.

“Sorry about that, didn’t mean to give anyone a fright.” Bilbo muttered, the dwarves quickly finding his head peering out from the water a short ways away.

“...Bilbo?” Bofur breathed. “Mahal’s beard, you’re scaley!”

“No, no scales, no thank you, those are um, other creatures.” Bilbo shuffled his limbs underneath him, the rock he was perched on slippery with algae. It was comforting to finally just sit in water and feel the currents tugging at his hair and fins.

“You’re _injured,_ ” Oin grunted, beckoning him forwards.

“Um. See, yes, I am, however, I’d greatly appreciate _not_ moving for the moment.” Bilbo stuttered a bit, ducked his mouth below water to shut himself up.

“What manner of creature _are_ you?” Ori was giving him a rather astonished and wondering look, even though all he could see was a could of Bilbo’s head fins, hair, and his horn.

“That can be discussed later,” Thorin rumbled, though his considering glower never left Bilbo. “We have an orc pack on our trail, we need to move.”

“Kili’s injured, his leg needs wrapping.” Bofur said.

“And don’t think I can’t see that bite on your shoulder!” Oin yelled out to Bilbo. Bilbo then sank below the water even further.

“No time.” Thorin said, clearly even unhappier. “Field dress it and we move.”

Oin grumbled a bit (after Gloin clarified to him what Thorin had said) and gave Bilbo a determined scowl before waddling off with numerous squelches to Kili.

“Master Bilbo,” Ori said, sitting himself down at the edge of the water and pulling off his boots. Bilbo wasn’t aware landwalkers were capable of taking off boots _shyly._ “I mean no offense, but what _are_ you?”

Bilbo drifted closer through the water until he was perched on rocks close enough that lifting his head above it didn’t take too much energy.

“I, my good friend, am an adaro.” Bilbo’s mouth twitched and he smiled at Ori’s fascinated gaze. He resisted the urge to show off his fangs in a smile that would likely scare the poor dwarrow. “We’re rather… peaceful creatures. We protect the waters of the Shire and help keep hobbits safe. You see, hobbits have bad luck with water.” Ori wasn’t even emptying his boots anymore, just holding the soaked leather to his chest as he listened with wide eyes. “Even in my lifetime, with hobbits aware of the dangers of water, I can’t tell you how often I’ve had to drag some poor fauntling up out of the reeds and back to the shore.”

Bilbo was very bad at judging things in the air. Underwater, yes, his senses were top notch and he doubted _any_ creature had greater spatial awareness of the water and currents. Above land? His barbels and fins were useless.

So the Man showing up out of nowhere caught him _quite_ by surprise, though the dwarves seemed to notice him showing up in time to react. Didn’t do them much good unfortunately.

Balin worked it out, and all seemed to be going well, until Bard’s arrow pointed out towards Ori and bilbo. Nori and Dori both tensed and moved as if to protect them, but froze sensibly.

“What manner of beast it that you speak with?” Bard bit out, eyes distrusting.

“Master Baggins is an adaro,” Ori stuttered.

“We’d all _thought_ he was a halfling up until just now…” Fili muttered, Kili elbowing him harshly when Bard’s eyes narrowed.

“Excuse me, _halfling?_ They’re called _hobbits,_ and I’ll have you know ‘halfling’ is _very insulting_ to them.” Bilbo actually rose out of the water slightly, fins rising in offense. “They’re not half of _anything_ and if I’ve done _anything_ so far this Quest I’d have hoped it would be to get you to stop using that accursed slur!”

Bilbo had in fact tried rather hard to get them to stop using it. However, as a small and chubby hobbit, it was rather difficult to impress on stubborn dwarves that they had _better_ stop with the insults. As an adaro with rather sharp claws, fangs, and glimmering fins spreading in an irritated display, it might have finally gotten through their heads.

“I’ve never heard of these… adaro.” Nonetheless Bard was lowering his bow slightly, staring at Bilbo.

Bilbo was a little self conscious and tried sinking back underwater. Ori stopped him with a hand, nearly falling into the river but looking rather concerned about the bleeding bite wound on his shoulder. Bilbo was less concerned about that and more concerned with his right arm that was slowly going numb and losing feeling. He allowed Ori to fret a bit, staring back at Bard, knowing that his large pupils were unnerving.

“None outside the Shire would,” Bilbo admitted. “Adaro have hidden in the Shire’s waters for longer than hobbits have lived there. Hobbits help keep us hidden and we keep them from falling to their curse of drowning- agh!” Bilbo’s Westron devolved into hissing gurgles as he jerked away from Ori.

“I’m so sorry, there’s a tooth stuck in your shoulder-” Ori said fearfully.

“You’re kidding,” Dwalin muttered, Balin laughing.

“I _told_ you an orc tackled him.” Kili said. “He shoved me into the water and then the orc just ran into him.”

“Nothing can fight an adaro underwater.” Bilbo’s fins flared sharply and he hissed lightly. He wanted to grab his shoulder and examine it himself, but he currently couldn’t really move his right arm. 

* * *

 Soon after Bilbo found himself curled up painfully inside a barrel, limbs aching and tail fins protesting the tight quarters something fierce. He swore he’d apologize to the dwarves for the barrels as soon as they were out.

And then they were sneaking around and running about and then Bilbo found himself plopped down inside a Man’s house and drying out rather uncomfortably.

“Now we’re somewhere safe, we need to talk about this _adaro_ thing, Master Baggins.” Thorin rumbled, glare turning onto Bilbo. He doubted it was entirely unintentionally terrifying seeing as he’d just _saved their lives_ but Bilbo’s fins flared nonetheless.

“That, and that you need to be bandaged up! Mahal’s beard, laddy, your arm looks near torn to the bone!” Oin bustled near and Bilbo found himself crouching down reflexively, fins plastering themselves to his back.

“Ah, see, I’d love to,” Bilbo said, raspy and very conscious that he was running out of oxygen. “But I need to get underwater before I uh… well, drown. In the air. I _am_ an aquatic creature.”

“Can’t you just turn back into a hobbit?” Nori said and Bilbo would’ve hissed if he had quite the breath for it.

“I _could_ except that my fins and tail are all sorts of bruised and bent.” Bilbo swallowed and shook his head, the unnerving feeling of slime drying causing him to panic. “I- it’s not quite easy or safe to change forms such when there’s- _limbs_ that the other form doesn’t _have_ that are injured.”

With a little bit of arguing - mostly helped by the fact that Bilbo was starting to choke - he was allowed to slide into the nearest open water between walkways. The water was _cold_ but he was willing to deal with it if just to _breathe._

Bilbo didn’t let the small currents of the lake move him around much, clinging to a slime covered post and curling against it. It was nice to relax and just let his fins flutter against the currents. But the relaxation wasn’t quite enough to help the exhaustion he could feel trying to pull him down. And he was fairly sure the dwarves wouldn’t appreciate him having a nap without even warning them.

He wasn’t sure how long he was underwater, but he could hear all the activity in the house above him very easily. Water carried and they weren’t as quiet as they could be.

He splashed a bit raising himself up under the house’s empty space to knock on the floorboards. There was an awkward confused silence, along with footsteps that were suddenly moving around extra cautiously.

“Bilbo?” Fili’s muffled voice said.

“Would it be alright if you would bring out a blanket that the um- that nobody minds being soaked?” Bilbo raised his voice a bit, sinking back down when he heard footsteps moving around in search.

Oin and Bofur met him at the small opening in the docks, Bofur holding out a ragged blanket that was torn in places. Bilbo didn’t particularly mind, happily accepting it and falling underwater. He floated in place for a minute, arranging the blanket to avoid strangling his fins above water.

Then Bilbo poked his head out of the water and looked rather sheepish.

“I’m afraid I don’t think I can quite haul myself out,” He muttered.

With a careful lookover to make sure he wouldn’t grab any injuries, Bofur helped haul Bilbo out of the water slowly to avoid rushing water and suspicious splashing. They then rushing him inside quickly, soaked blanket around his shoulders.

“That blanket’ll keep you from drying out?” Oin said suspiciously.

Bilbo nodded tiredly. “It won’t keep me from needing to breathe with my gills though,” He flinched when Oin peeled back the blanket over his shoulder to take a look. “I’d honestly prefer you look at my arm first and stitch my fins back together.”

Oin cursed when he pulled Bilbo’s right arm out from the blanket. The orc had managed to dig his claws right into the crook of Bilbo’s elbow, tearing deep into the flesh.

“Now _that_ is eery,” Bofur said, staring at the wound. It wasn’t bleeding and was indeed rather eery to any used to bleeding wounds.

“It’s because the cold and how long it’s been since it happened,” Bilbo explained, eyes closing. Oin was poking around at his arm rather angrily.

“Can ye not _feel_ this?” The healer growled.

“Oh I can, it’s just… rather muted.” Bilbo opened his eyes to see the Company staring at him. “Oh. Right… um, well, adaro don’t… feel pain the same way that land-dwellers do. Feeling it in hobbit form was rather shocking the first time I scraped an elbow, I’ll tell you that.” Bilbo tried to joke.

The dwarves were oddly silent, obviously taking in the adaro’s odd crouch and long tail fins curled up behind him. Bilbo sighed.

“Alright, well, this… really _isn’t_ a very long story.” Bilbo said awkwardly, ear fins twitching when Oin began to attempt cleaning out the gashes on his arm. “I told Ori the gist of it really. Adaro have lived in waterways of the Shire for a long time, but many don’t uh… we’re rather frightening to landwalkers.” He paused. “Land-dwellers.”

If he was going to get onto them for calling hobbits halflings he needed to stop using the slightly more derogatory term himself.

“When hobbits settled into the Shire, they arrived already bearing what many called a curse.” Bilbo shrugged. “Whichever way you look at it, a frightening number of hobbits die from drowning. It used to be _the_ largest cause of hobbit deaths. Adaro, in exchange for hobbits keeping them secret, promised to help any hobbits crossing their waters. Even with our help, hobbits still die too often of drowning.” Bilbo looked down at the floorboards, fins pinching somewhat under the blanket.

“And what of looking like a hobbit?” Ori was writing in his journal, scribbling away rather frantically.

“That is something…” Bilbo shrugged uncomfortably. “Well, its origins I’ll not say, it’s a secret adaro have kept for Ages,” He glared back when the dwarves seemed about to protest. “But it is something all adaro may do. It’s not something we _like_ doing, however, especially not for very long.”

Bilbo winced when Oin began sewing his arm up, grumbling something about Bilbo being a better patient than any others he’d dealt with.

“Oh, uh, could you perhaps… sew up my fins as well?” Bilbo raised his voice a bit when Oin looked up, tilting his head in that way that said he hadn’t quite caught that. “If you can sew up the gash in my fins that would be nice! Thin thread!” Oin grunted and flipped Bilbo’s arm over slowly, examining the fins on the back of his arm. Right between two crests the fins had been torn right down the middle.

“Gandalf knew.” Thorin rumbled. Bilbo flinched.

“Yes, he did. He was rather insistent, I told him no.” Bilbo’s head tilted. “The smial you lot invaded happened to belong to good friends of mine, Primula and Drogo Baggins, and I was just joining them for dinner when you showed up.”

Several of the dwarves seemed to be cursing Gandalf and wizards in general under their breaths. Bilbo couldn’t help but agree.

Oin pulled the blanket away more and saw Bilbo’s gills, tuttering over the clawmarks over them. Bilbo _really_ winced when they were pressed on gently.

“Ribs don’t _seem_ broken, but rather bruised I’d imagine.” Oin said. “Though I certainly don’t know much of adaros.”

“The plural is just adaro,” Bilbo protested before hissing out a brief yelp. “No! No need to sew up the skin around my gills! That will heal perfectly fine on its own!”

He wasn’t sure if Oin heard him and ignored him or didn’t hear him at all, pulling the blanket off to look over Bilbo’s shoulder and back.

“Laddie, don’t suppose ya know how yer kind fix bent fins?” Oin ran a hand over Bilbo’s back carefully, but Bilbo still jumped in surprise. It was not normal to touch other adaro’s fins.

The line of fins that ran along his spine could usually flatten somewhat, but Bilbo clearly remembered several forced interactions with rocks in the whitewaters and the pain of bent fins. There were only a few, with the bigger issue being the torn membrane on his back and tail, but it still hurt like _hell._

“Straighten them out and hope they heal.” Bilbo said sardonically, still raising his voice.

Oin did exactly that, leaving Bilbo cursing at the painful pinch. The Company seemed to find that _hilarious._

“I trust this… secret hasn’t impacted anything else of our Quest?” Thorin said lowly, everyone going silent.

“Other than the elves of Rivendell being rather confused, no.” Bilbo smiled awkwardly. “They knew I was not a hobbit but I believe they couldn’t quite tell what _else_ I could be.”

“Then this shall not affect the future of this Quest either.” Thorin stated, dark eyes burrowing into Bilbo’s.

“Not at all.” Bilbo said quietly. Then Thorin nodded and turned away to speak with Bard and it was like a spell had been broken, the Company going back to questioning Bilbo.

He might’ve felt aggravated by all the questions, but Bilbo just smiled.

* * *

Bonus:

**Author's Note:**

> I understand in AUs where Bilbo's a dragon that the Company would react rather badly to his Big Reveal, but in this situation? After the initial shock I think they wouldn't really mind. He's very strange, yeah, but now instead of their strange hobbit burglar he's their strange adaro burglar
> 
> By the way I am totally planning a Bagginshield sequel (chaptered fic, which will be hell, but hey imma try) of Bilbo trying to live in the mountain 
> 
> I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED! I had a blast writing this and the art is my own, find me on tumblr @scrawly-times! 
> 
> As far as adaro mythology: adaro are actually said to be evil spirits of sorts? I've been fascinated with them for a while, honestly, just from their description. "described as a man with gills behind his ears, tail fins for feet, a horn like a shark's dorsal fin, and a swordfish or sawfish-like spear growing out of his head" I mean that's just cool, though my design differs from that quite a bit.. aha.... and i can't quite seem to draw what I envision adaro as anyways, but hey, at least Bilbo's cute


End file.
